Baseball Birthday Bash

Before Joey was born, we started talking about his 1st birthday party.  We decided to do a baseball themed birthday party - first, because we love baseball, and second, because his birthday would be right around opening day.

So about a month ago I started planning.  Can I just say I'm grateful for Etsy?  We found the cutest decorations, and it was SUPER easy to get them done.

This was the cutest thing.  It was a "Rookie Year" banner, with pictures of Joey each month of his life so far 

Before everyone got here, we blew up some balloons and Joey thought they were the best thing ever.

We had hot dogs, salads, and funnel cakes for dinner. Then we opened presents.  Joey is so blessed to have so many people that love him so much.  He finally realized that it was fun to open the presents and figure out what was inside of them, so he started helping me a few presents into his stack.

My mom made a super cute smash-cake and cupcakes decorated like baseballs.  Joey started off by just picking at the frosting, but ended by digging his hands in and squeezing the cake between his hands and giggling.  It was SO cute.  I couldn't sing "Happy Birthday" to him because I can't cry and sing at the same time.  I still can't believe my baby is 1.

We ended the day by having a fire in our new fire ring while Joey and his cousins played outside.  One of his favorite toys is a bat and some "baseballs."  While we were outside, Neal or I would help Joey hold onto the bat and the other would throw a ball and then Joey would hit the a ball.  It made him so happy and excited every time he hit the ball.  Then he and his cousin Daniel crawled around the yard.

It's so funny how much Joey is like us.  He started the party by being very quiet and observant.  Once he warmed up to people being in his house, he became more himself by talking, playing, and just running around in general.  We had so much fun and enjoyed watching everyone love on Joey.  It makes me so excited for birthday parties to come!